Other What currently makes your life awesome?

I'm usually of the opinion that money tends to come in again, why not spend it?

That might be me being unreasonable because my parents saved money for their retirement only to die early (57, my father) or get sick so badly that life was severely restricted (first brain tumor at 52, my mother). So, I think it's better to live now while I'm still young and healthy enough to enjoy things, rather than wait for later when I'll have the time, but likely not the health.

 

Just received the second-best email of a Kickstarter campaign, for the Discworld TTRPG I backed.

1. Your pledge has shipped.
2. Manufacturing has begun. Log in to manage your pledge. <- This one
3. All stretch goals unlocked.
4. Project funded. We're taking your money now.
5. Pledge received.

 

There are mortgages without ERCs, or flexible ERCs like first direct in that you can pay what you want in term, no cap, so long as you don't pay it off fully if you have the ability to dump a ton of dough and pay it off then there is that, of course whether you should or not vs investing/pension is another matter.

 

I don't think the ERC stuff necessarily needs to be a worry here - ERCs typically only apply to the fixed term of your mortgage, so if you're on a two year fix, say, then you're limited in terms of overpayments but only until that two year period ends, at which point you're either going onto a SVR (where there typically aren't any ERCs to worry about) or remortgaging (at which point you can easily reduce the amount you are borrowing).

Maybe more of a consideration if you are locking into a 10 year fix, say, but not for a typical 2 or 5 year fix.

And it's also worth noting that while paying ERCs is burning money, they only apply to what you're overpaying above the allowance so it might not cost you too much in reality. And it might even be worth the cost if, for example, the overpayment takes you into a lower LTV band at the point that you come to remortgage.

 

And I have a long and storied history of “spending today and not worrying about tomorrow”, in many cases getting myself into severe financial difficulty . (I now know that it comes with the territory when you have ADHD.)

But… Financially, I’ve never been in a better position. We paid off some £15,000 in debts last year. I no longer have any lending to my name. The one credit card we have left (under my OH’s name, and the last debt in her name) could be paid off instantly.

I don’t mean for this to sound like I’m bragging. I used to call myself “lucky” for being where I am now. There is some luck involved, certainly; but there has also been a hell of a lot of hardship, a hell of a lot of very very low points, and a hell of a lot of gruelling, grinding, soul-crushing work. I’m not “lucky”, I’ve earned it.

So… yeah, I do want to enjoy it while my health still allows, ‘cos I sure as **** ain’t gonna be here forever.

But the reality is that I’m in the same boat as so many others. No matter how good things might be right now, I’m still only a few short steps away from destitution. Not many things have to go wrong before all that income is gone and I can no longer pay for the roof over my head. I can’t ignore that.

All points that I plan to consider when we get to the point where we’ve actually been approved for the mortgage and can actually move in . As is whether we’re going to see a better return by overpaying the mortgage or saving/investing that money instead. But I do nonetheless appreciate the input and advice .

To be honest… I really do quite like the sound of paying off a mortgage in the space of just 8-10 years

 

I'd say a couple of things here:
1. In the greater scheme of things, how much the difference, in terms of return on your money, is between the two options might not be particularly significant (and you'll have to make some assumptions in order to predict the difference ahead of time, which may not be borne out in reality)
2. There's a trade-off to be made between optimising your return on your investments and giving yourself psychological comfort from reducing or even paying off your mortgage. Depends on the value you place on the latter, as well as a whole slew of other factors.

I certainly can't deny that the idea of being mortgage-free ASAP is very appealing - it's probably most people's single biggest monthly expense and the idea of not having to pay all of that money out every months opens up a lot of possibilities to do other things with it instead!

 

Whilst returns are handy the other side to not ploughing every thing into the house but into other places is having access to a pot of dough should things go sideways, life is a lot less stressful when you have a buffer, for example when you been paying hard into your house and loose your job, you discover life still needs to be paid for as does the remaining mortgage, so going all in whilst great and you'll feel good having done it at the end, comes with possible pitfalls if you go in hard, so do go too mental .

I could pay of my mortgage much quicker but having various pots that earn more than my mortgage rate plus taking advantage of pension tax relief means that I have a reasonable cushion should things go sideways, though I am close to retirement so my focus will switch, for me the cost of a 500quid overpayment is quite a bit more than £500 versus that amount combined with the tax and NI relief into pension that is also growing at a much higher rate than my mortgage.

Whilst I'll probably end up in a same place over time one way versus another, i know what makes me feel better but each to there own, I do work in a very hire/fire industry, so job security is always on the back of my mind.

Of course I was on target for going at 55 there is always the pitfall of gov rule changes and now it's 57, might still do and just live off my other pots but aaaargh .That said I'll probably see how trial retirement goes first and not crack in to the pension, such that I can still pay a wad in if I get bored and work and have options like 6 months on 6 off etc.

 

It's a tricky dilemma but not the worst to have; I'd always rather stretch things a little and have the house I want to live in, especially when the alternative is dealing with all the headaches of a flat. Moving house can be a significant expense as well, I'm not sure where the stamp duty thing sits with first time buyers but bear in mind that if you do move you'll need solicitor's fees not only to buy the new place but to sell the old one as well.

I mean, I've got a whacking great mortgage right now but I'm surviving, and I've got a nice house to come home to.

Also the snooker is on and it's sunny but I think I'm digressing.

 

Yeah offset mortgage accounts can definitely be a bit of a best of both worlds scenario.

A couple of caveats though: not every provider does offset mortgages, they typically have a lower LTV threshold to qualify for them, and generally the interest rate you get on your offset mortgage is higher than on the equivalent non-offset mortgage. For example, Barclays offer a 2-year offset tracker at base rate + 1.22% with a product fee of £1,749 and a 2-year non-offset tracker at base rate + 0.36% with a product fee of £999 - both of these are for a max LTV of 75% and whilst Barclays do offer non-offset mortgages at higher LTVs, they don't offer an offset product above 75%. And sneakily Barclays actually do have ERCs for the offset tracker which is a bit rude (but not for the non-offset tracker, which is fair). Other providers might be better or worse but Barclays was the first one that popped up

I think this discussion does show that speaking to an independent financial advisor is pretty important, preferably one that specialises in mortgages (or a good old fashioned independent mortgage broker), especially if you think your circumstances might be anything other than extremely straightforward. And standard disclaimer that I am not a financial advisor, nor did I use one (or a mortgage broker) for my mortgages

 

(Apologies, I will get back to the mortgage-y stuff soon.)

There’s nothing I need to do today.

Of course there’s plenty I could, and maybe should, be doing… But there’s nothing that I actually need to do today.

In fact… I don’t think there’s anything I need to do all weekend.

Holy crap… I’d almost forgotten what “free time” actually felt like…

 

May the force be with.
This makes my day as I remember seeing a new hope when it first came out in the cinema.

 

Another 28k bike ride. My bike needs some maintenance and possibly a new (better) gear shift, but I'm really happy with the amount of cycling we're doing since our move. I enjoy the time in nature on my bike with my wife so much, didn't think it would be THAT satisfying.

 

I haven't posted in the 'What's ruining your life?' thread in a while.

 

I was thinking the last few days that Gunny had not been posting in the BT forums for a while. This explains why! Great work.

I really must get around to starting to paint my stupidly large pile of shame, but that's what happens when you end up pursuing a few too many hobbies at once.

 

The little monster I have packaged into a Fractal Terra... All based around a Minisforum BD790i X3D (Ryzen 9 7945HX3D mobile chip which itself is a 7950X3D but running at up to around 100w).

Wanted a more powerful console for 4K gaming and now have one.

(I know I could have gone for a ITX board and a 9800X3D or just dropped in the 7900 I was using.... but..... I like the quirky and the unusual so had to be the daft option instead,... )

Oh and Expedition 33 @ 4K Native (DLAA) with everything cranked is just.... mmmm.... on the TV (with HDR and VRR of course)!

 

Today is week 12 since Big Ouch. Dysphoria is mostly gone (voice is not co-operating with me grr) but body feels like home now, as it should

 

12 weeks? That's flown past, hope you're more comfortable in every sense.

 

Most definitely am Early post-op time wasn't easy, something dropped on the floor stayed on the floor until someone else picked it up for you, two notable cases red stuff escaping, became very familiar with UTIs, not allowed to carry anything heavier than my shoulder bag, the works

Been a long road this thing. Realisation happened in 94-95, transition 2020, Big Ouch 2025 so 30 years of waiting. These two phrases should give some perspective: "someone's career" or "someone's entire life"

Big stuff is now done, few loose bits to mop up but I'm not in a hurry with those

 

After yet another contract reshuffle I am finally working! 9 months of waiting later I've done a sideways promotion - same wage, benefits, etc, just a different (way smaller) team and I'm actually learning useful skills, and being openly praised by my trainers, and management structure on the job for getting stuck in with the work after only getting my hands on some of the systems yesterday.

Happy they is happy.